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WWE SmackDown
WWE SmackDown 01.png WWE SmackDown 02.png WWE SmackDown 04.png WWE SmackDown 05.png WWE SmackDown 06.png WWE Smackdown 07.png WWE SmackDown 09.png WWE SmackDown 10.png WWE SmackDown, also known as SmackDown Live or simply SmackDown, is a WWE television program that debuted on August 26, 1999. The show's name is also used to refer to the SmackDown brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program; the other program and brand currently being Raw. It is currently the only television broadcast for the SmackDown brand, though at one point WWE Velocity also featured SmackDown branded wrestling. SmackDown replaced WWE Sunday Night Heat as the secondary show complementing WWE Raw. Storylines and Pay Per View development continued from the previous Raw episode and continued in the next episode of Raw. SmackDown was the first weekly show by WWE to be broadcast on free to air network TV (not counting WWF Saturday Night's Main Event which were specials). On April 4 2002, SmackDown became its own entity under the Brand Extension. This allowed SmackDown to have its own talent, events and championships separate from Raw. From 2002 to 2004 SmackDown nearly beat Raw in the Ratings. The First Brand Extension continued till 2013 when SmackDown was reintegrated into a single continuity with Raw. However in 2016 SmackDown again was Split from Raw. SmackDown started as a one off special on UPN to test the viewership of a wrestling show on the network. Designed to compete with WCW Thunder. Prior to September 1, 2005, SmackDown! was broadcast on Thursday nights; from September 9, 2005 to January 9, 2015, it was broadcast on Friday nights. The show then returned to Thursday nights on January 15, 2015, before moving to a live Tuesday night broadcast in July 2016. SmackDown! originally debuted in the United States on the UPN television network on April 29, 1999, but after the merger of UPN and the WB, SmackDown! began airing on The CW in September 2006. The show remained on the CW network for two years until it was moved to MyNetworkTV in October 2008. SmackDown moved to Syfy on October 1, 2010 and remained there until December 31, 2015. A week later, on January 7, 2016, SmackDown moved to its sister channel, USA Network. It complements Raw as the second of WWE's two main weekly programs. In its history, SmackDown has been broadcast from 162 different arenas, in 147 cities and towns, in seven different nations (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Iraq in 2006 and 2007 for specials Tribute to the Troops, Japan in 2005, Italy in 2007 and Mexico in 2011). Due to time differences, SmackDown premieres a few hours earlier in Ireland and the United Kingdom and a day earlier in Australia, Canada, Singapore and Philippines than the United States, except for live episodes. For international broadcast listings, see below. The show celebrated its 15th anniversary on October 10, 2014 Current SmackDown Championships WWE Championship.png|WWE Championship WWE IC Title 2013.jpg|WWE Intercontinental Championship WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships.jpg|SmackDown Tag Team Championship|link=WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship WWE SmackDown Womens Championship.jpg|SmackDown Women's Championship|link=WWE SmackDown Women's Championship Sets SD OvalTron 1999.jpg|OvalTron 1999 SD Fist 2002.jpg|The Fist SD Universal Set V1.jpg|Universal V1 SD Universal Set V2.jpg|Universal V2 SD Universal Set V3.jpg|Universal V3 SmackDown Set 2016 1.jpg|2016 Version 1 SmackDown Set 2016 2.jpg|2016 Version 2 Current SmackDown Participated Pay Per Views WWE Royal Rumble Logo.png|With Raw|link=WWE Royal Rumble WWE Wrestlemania Logo.png|With Raw|link=WWE WrestleMania SummerSlam Logo 2012.jpg|With Raw|link=WWE SummerSlam WWE Survivor Series Logo.png|With Raw|link=WWE Survivor Series WWE Backlash 2016 Logo.jpg|Exclusive|link=WWE Backlash WWE No Mercy 2016 Logo.png|Exclusive|link=WWE No Mercy Videos SmackDown Information WWE Talking Smack Talking Smack was the post 2016 Brand Extension Post Show for SmackDown debuting August 2, 2016 airing exclusively on the WWE Network. It was hosted by Renee Young and Daniel Bryan and featured interviews, recapps and continued angles from the immediately proceeding episode of SmackDown. See Also * WWE Raw * WWE Superstars * WWE ECW * WWE Main Event * WWE Velocity